OK, although I never thought I, or my wife would participate in the latest technological “fad,” we have.
It’s confession time here. I bought one; but it is mainly for my wife’s use. The culprit is an eBook Reader. Yes, a month or two ago I bought a Nook which is sold by Barnes & Noble stores. Now one aside here: If you know me you know that I am tight, a penny-pincher, cheap and any of the other words with the same connotation. So I bought one of the black and white or e-Ink, refurbished ones for about half the price of buying one new. It has the same guarantee as new, so I figured, “What the heck, let’s give it a spin.”
Again, being a miser, I first went out and got some old Edgar Rice Burroughs books I had read as a kid. They are free all over the net. I downloaded mine at Project Gutenberg.
I am an avid reader, when I have the time, and figured I would miss the tactile sensation of holding a paper book. I found that after about three minutes I was lost in the book and could care less about the feel. I have to admit I liked the experience.
My wife likes to read (especially in the summer when school is out) so we bought her first e-book. This is in a continuing series she reads and she likes it too. And not having to stack the book somewhere to store it is good, too. Once read you can archive the book, go back another day and re-download it for another reading. We also now have a book or two from Barnes & Noble Nook site.
The Nook I bought will also surf the net (in black and white, or e-Ink) but it is not really an enjoyable experience. However, if you get one of the new color Nooks (Nook Color) it is a good thing…not bad at all. With the Nook Color you can surf the net, check email and do many things that you can do on more expensive tablet PCs. It also has the Android operating system which is another plus in my opinion.
That being said, it is not a fully developed Android tablet with access to the Market and the full gamut of Android applications and features. It does have some of the Android Market at this point but not the major part, although I imagine that will change in time.
You can also get full copies of most of your favorite glossy magazines with lots of photographs on the Nook Color. It is excellent to read them this way and there are no trash byproducts when you are finished. Magazines for the e-Ink readers display gray-scale images and most images are omitted from these. Many newspapers are also available for e-readers.
There are a couple of things you should note. If you read mostly indoors, even in rooms with miserable lighting, the Nook Color is a good choice with a listed battery life of about eight hours. If you read outdoors at a picnic bench or on vacations at the poolside, get the e-Ink reader like I did. E-Ink displays look their best under bright light and require reading lights or ambient room lighting indoors. The e-Ink is amazing to see in action, but not in poor light. This one also has an advertised battery life of ten days, yes, days… not hours. Also, the lack of a touch screen on the e-Ink reader makes navigation awkward on anything other than books.
Speaking of books, you can get most of the latest titles Barnes & Noble carries for your reader. The prices are below the prices of printed books, so that is another good thing.
I now disagree with my first statement. I do not believe it is a fad as something like it will be around for a long time.
